


Get Out as Early as You Can

by Froggimus_Rex



Category: Star Wars (Marvel Comics)
Genre: Backstory, Gen, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-04
Packaged: 2019-04-28 21:23:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14458020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Froggimus_Rex/pseuds/Froggimus_Rex
Summary: They fuck you up, your mum and dad...





	Get Out as Early as You Can

**Author's Note:**

  * For [perlaret](https://archiveofourown.org/users/perlaret/gifts).



> Title and summary from _This Be The Verse_ by Philip Larkin

Shirtless and bound by thick golden chains, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master and General of the Grand Army of the Republic, struggled futilely against his bonds, the flickering light from the grotesquely large candles scattered about the sacrificial chamber gleaming on his bare skin. Ignoring the skittering and scraping as a massive carapace emerged from the shadows, with superhuman effort the Jedi General turned his head to the look at the other altar, where one Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight and also General of the Grand Army of the Republic, as well as his erstwhile Padawan Learner, was similarly trussed like a porg for a festive dinner.

"Skywalker," General Kenobi gasped, chest heaving, as he felt the touch of spindly, chitinous feelers climbing up his legs. "Before the symbiotes attach to our brain stems and our consciousness and life energy are absorbed by the hivemind, I must tell you something. I..."

But then, just in the nick of time, the ginger Jedi was saved both from the encroaching insectoid parasite and an embarrassingly sappy admission by the arrival of two hooded figures, lightsabers drawn. The oversized Abersyn symbiote went flying, and the heroic rescuers approached the altars the two helpless Jedi were bound to. The taller of the two threw back her hood and prepared to make a dramatic and inspiring speech.

“Boop?”

Chelli hunched her shoulders, tightening her grip on her action figure, and biting her lower lip. Which was a mistake, since it was still sore _and_ tasted like bacta. Apparently Mom and Dad had finished their argument, or their 'discussion' as they liked to call them, as if icy politeness and gritted out words made it less of a fight than raised voices and thrown objects. Not that she wanted...adults were stupid. Maybe if she kept quiet they’d figure she’d snuck out to one of her dig sites (she’d find something interesting one day if she dug deep enough in enough places, even if she had to plant it herself) while they’d been been 'discussing' whatever they’d disagreed over this time. Especially since she had a pretty good idea about the current topic.

“ _Chelli._ ”

No such luck, and Mom sounded pretty upset, so she’d probably lost the discussion. Or she’d won it, there didn’t seem to be much of a difference between the two these days. Chelli sighed, no point in trying to put it off any longer. “In here, Mom.”

She didn't bother looking up when she heard Mom open her door and come over to crouch beside her, just because she was resigned to her fate didn't mean she had to welcome it. Instead she focused on the action figure still in hand, which had been a Shaak Ti before Chelli’d fixed it (Dad had tried that time he’d gone to a conference on Coruscant, he’d been wrong, but he’d at least tried), something she’d also caught six kinds of Sith hell for, despite the fact she’d barely cut herself. She needed to fix the paint job again, it kept peeling off the cut down lekku and montrals.

“I see you've been in my study again.” Great, Mom was being _reasonable_ and talking her way around to the subject, that always meant she was really mad, madder than just losing her temper mad. "And my jewellery box."

Chelli scowled as she put down the figure and righted the life size symbiote model. "I went through Dad’s stuff too," she muttered, as if that would help her case. His stupid Massassi crystals were the right size for the altars in her reproduction of **Fig. 3, Chapter 2, Responses to Mid Stage Infestations in Pre-Hyperspace Capable Civilisations (L Aphra)**.

"I sure he won't mind finding out he contributed to such an...accurate diorama.” Long, elegant fingers combed through Chelli’s hair, she debated attempting to squirm away, but then she couldn't pretend to ignore it. "Boop, we received a holocall from Jek Nath’s parents earlier."

“Must have been nice to brush up on your Shyriiwook.”

Mom let out a sigh that mirrored Chelli’s own earlier one. “ _Chelli_. Don't.”

"Yes, Mom." Though she guessed she _was_ being unfair, just because Jek looked like a shaved Wookiee didn't mean he had anything resembling their easygoing nature or general air of nobility.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

No. She didn't. "We had a discussion." With biting and kicking somewhere you didn't want to be kicked.

"It's called fighting when biting and kicking's involved." Mom just sounded tired now, but Chelli refused, refused, to feel guilty about it, she'd been in the right.

"He hit me first," she protested. "And I _tried_ using my words." Which was half the reason he'd decked her, no matter what Mom said, when she tried talking it only made things worse.

"We've talked about this, there are other ways to solve your problems."

"Like pretending I'm dumber than them? It's the only way they'll ever like me." And if she was going to act stupid so people would play nice back, it wasn't going to be for the sake of Jek karking Nath.

“Chelli, no, I don’t want…” Mom sighed, again, and sat down beside her. Chelli told herself she didn't care that she’d stopped finger-combing her hair to do so. “Your father and I have been discussing moving again, Boop.”

“Really? I hadn't noticed.” It wasn't like the subject left the entire house feeling like it was booby-trapped or anything every time they brought it up.

“We figured things out this time.”

That got Chelli to look up. “Dad agreed to go?” It was pretty clear by this point that Mom wasn't going to bend.

A pause. Long enough that Chelli didn't really need to hear the “Not exactly.” that followed.

Oh.

“At this point, we’ve agreed to disagree. He might join us later.”

“Maybe if you told him that your stupid planet had his stupid Ordu Aspectu on it.” Then they could both get their stupid way.

“Don’t think I haven't considered it.” Chelli was didn't think she was supposed to hear that. Then in that overly bright tone adults used when they were trying to convince themselves as well as you. “It’ll be an adventure.”

An adventure Chelli definitely wasn’t getting a say in. Not after all the discussions Mom and Dad had had over it. “I guess.”

At least there couldn't possibly be anything worse on some Outer Rim dirtball than than Jek Nath.


End file.
